In Britain, baked potatoes are oven-cooked whole, skin on, usually without fat; roast potatoes are peeled, cut into large uniform chunks (halved or quartered depending on the size), parboiled, then oven-cooked in lots of fat.
If I ordered a baked potato in a restaurant and did not receive an entire, whole, skin-on potato, optionally sliced open across the top, I would be shocked and would have a negative opinion of the restaurant.
We make roasted potatoes all the time, much like you describe. When we do it at home, we'll frequently use Idaho Gold potatoes that do not need to be peeled, and we'll skip the parboiling step. Plenty of places make this without skipping those steps, and they're delicious, just more labor intensive.
The russet skin would of course not render the dish inedible, but the final result would be much more different than what the recipe was trying to achieve.
"Need" here means "required to yield desired final product" not "necessary or else you'll die".
The variety of potatoes used is also a critical factor.
I prefer mealy potatoes, typically almond potatoes[1], but others work fine too.
Add some herbs, salt and pepper while tossing. Super easy, hard to mess up and yum yum.
Yes, they can be hard to find in southern parts because they are harder to grow in warm climate.
Move to a sufficiently deep (steel) baking tray, sprinkle with salt, add a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary on top, and cook until properly roasted. No need to even turn them around.
> The variety of potatoes used is also a critical factor.
Bingo. The more "floury", the better.